Social Security today has a $2.5 trillion surplus, can pay out all benefits owed to every eligible American for the next 25 years and, because it is funded independently by the payroll tax, has not added one penny to our national deficit or debt.

What I have to say about this book can be found inside the book.

~ Albert Einstein

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.

~ Confucius

Strangeness is the indispensable condiment of all beauty.

~ Charles Baudelaire

A Republican member of the Indiana General Assembly withdrew his bill to create a pilot program for drug testing welfare applicants after one of his Democratic colleagues amended the measure to require drug testing for lawmakers

I am always more interested in what I am about to do, than in what I have already done.

Rachel Carson

VERIZON: Total profits (2008-10): $32.5 billion
Total Lobbying Expenses (2008-10): $52.3 billion
Despite soaring profits, refuse to negotiate a fair contract for 50,000 Verizon workers

Those are your Bank of America Stats of the Week - enjoy!

Offshore subsidiaries in tax havens: 143
Lobbying since bailout (2009-2010): $8.5 million
Political contributions in 2008 & 2010 federal elections: $9.5 million

2010 CEO Brian Moynihan pay: $10 million
2010 bonuses and compensation: $35.1 billion
Income taxes owed in 2009: $0

Federal taxpayer bailout funds received: $199 billion
Bank teller wage: $11.11/hour ($23,108/year)

The destiny of man is in his own soul.

~ Herodotus

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.

Seneca

My goal in life is to be a person as good as my dog already thinks I am.

~ Unknown

Think on This...
Perfection is not possible in a material body until you have at least entered some thirty times . . .

Edgar Cayce Reading 2982-2

Dance is the movement of the universe concentrated in an individual.

~ Isadora Duncan

• Since the last SOTU, the economy has created 1.9 million private sector jobs.

• The top 1 percent take home 24 percent of the nation’s income, up from about 9 percent in 1976.

• Private sector job creation under Obama in 2011 was larger than seven out of the eight years Bush was president.

Of 172 recognized democracies, the US is ranked 139th in voter participation. Hello McFly!

$27.5 million: The amount that Super PACs have spent to influence the 2012 presidential election
$8.1 million: The amount Restore Our Future, the Super PAC backing GOP contender Mitt Romney, has spent
$5.4 million: The amount candidates have spent on TV ads for the South Carolina primary to date
$6.9 million: The amount Super PACs have spent on TV ads in South Carolina

This primary day, demand to know how much election coverage you’re really getting from your local news station: http://bit.ly/zwKOYPx

FAIR Blog » Blog Archive » PBS, NPR Try to Defend Iran Distortions http://ping.fm/hMPiG

When you pass along messages you find important via Facebook, Twitter and other social media, you're helping to build a more democratic media--where human choice rather than profit determines the information people see.

Love is, above all, the gift of oneself.

Jean Anouilh

May we speak in all human councils on behalf of the animals, plants, and landscapes of the earth.

John Seed

Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is.

¯H. Jackson Browne

Think on This...
. . . happiness is love of something outside of self! It may never be obtained, may never be known by loving only things within self or self's own domain!

Edgar Cayce Reading 281-30

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.

Buddha

TV meteorologists pushing climate denial at #AMS2012. Join @ForecastFacts in telling the AMS: Stick to the science

"You can dress it up in a religion catholic or muslim but its still subjugating woman - even if some women buy into the dogma that the men wrote thousands of years ago..." Paul Burke on Veil laws

BBC News - Keystone XL oil pipeline plan 'to be rejected' http://ping.fm/N4T2b

Ben Franklin’s 200+ Synonyms for “Drunk” - Mental Floss http://ping.fm/hlVD9

There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life.

Federico Fellini

Imagination is the key to my lyrics. The rest is painted with a little science fiction.

~ Jimi Hendrix

Few get understanding that have mere knowledge.

Edgar Cayce Reading 262-19

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made.

~ M. Acklam

More Proof the System is Broken: Bee Colonies Are Collapsing Left and Right | AlterNet http://ping.fm/n1aJd

We must design chemicals and manufacturing to be 'less toxic and less polluting'. Paul Anastas

The Triggers of Economic Inequality | BillMoyers.com http://ping.fm/xushA

Share on Myspace http://ping.fm/CoA42

Wisconsin Democrats to Submit One Million Signatures for Walker Recall | AlterNet http://ping.fm/CBRy7

End Monsanto's campaign of fear and intimidation against America's farmers http://bit.ly/Ack1Wa @food_democracy Please RT #stopMonsanto

We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

¯Joseph Campbell

Almond joy! - Victory for bees | Pesticide Action Network http://ping.fm/aGj7m

Pesticides are not heart healthy | Pesticide Action Network http://ping.fm/YuvuL

Best safety net for farmers? Healthy soil. | Pesticide Action Network http://ping.fm/ejs2H

Dow & Monsanto in deadly race on the pesticide treadmill | Pesticide Action Network http://ping.fm/jb5Ld

Banner week in bee science: Zombie flies & poisonous 'planter exhaust' | Pesticide Action Network http://ping.fm/96VqP

America's Top 10 Polluters | Mother Jones http://ping.fm/capTr

BoA is the #1 funder of the US coal industry, which is polluting our communities and cooking our climate.

BoA has shed nearly 100,000 jobs over the past several years — while it paid its top five executives over $500 million in bonuses.

BoA is the #1 forecloser of American’s homes.

Lose your mind and come to your senses.

~ Fritz Perls

Don't worry that children never listen to you, worry that they are always watching you.

Robert Fulghum

What could @WhiteHouse do right now to help homeowners? http://ping.fm/RJ0OU

I just called on Pres Obama to investigate #WallStreet http://tiny.cc/1tj60 Join me and fellow progressives to hold them accountable.

Tell the EPA: Require all farms to report on the amount of pollution they produce http://bit.ly/y8Wryl

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.

Native American Proverb

Exuberance is beauty.

~ William Blake

Goats being used, instead of pesticides in Eastham - - Wicked Local - Cape Cod http://ping.fm/a254I

We must learn to see the world anew.

~ Albert Einstein

You know like whether or not you should have an abortion, what religion you should be, what partner you can choose to be with and when - all that non-personal stuff the republicans are obsessed with that's nobody's business.

Santorum is a staunch climate change denier, declaring climate change a 'scheme' of the 'left' that serves as 'an excuse for more government control of your life.'"

Santorum has been one of the most prominent congressional defenders of intelligent design and the teaching of creationism

Named after the Washington business corridor famous for housing lobbying firms, the K Street Project was aimed at installing a permanent Republican majority in Washington - just so you know the wolf in sheep's clothing

These meetings were part of a larger plan -- originally launched in the 1990s by Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), conservative activist Grover Norquist and others when the GOP retook the House of Representatives after 40 years of Democratic control -- to pressure lobbying firms and trade associations to dump their Democratic lobbyists and replace them with Republicans.

Beginning in 2001, after Republicans seized control of Congress and the White House, then-Sen. Santorum (R-Pa.) began hosting Tuesday morning meetings with a select group of lobbyists.

"Behind the sweater vests, the faith and family, and the self-definition as a congressional reformer lies another Rick Santorum. This Rick Santorum favors big business, curries favor from lobbyists, and helped to bind the Washington influence industry to the Republican Party while serving in Congress.

If the writing is honest it cannot be separated from the man who wrote it. — Tennessee Williams

Liberal, Socialist, Commie, Capitalist, Terrorist, Conservative - What's in a Name?

Republican Richard Nixon created the EPA and ended the Vietnam War because it was the politically expedient thing to do. The liberals protesting the war day in and day out and the democrats and moderate republicans in congress pushed him to do it - while you can thread out one or two examples of democrats that voted against civil rights - you can't change the fact that socialism is more name calling - just like liberal - as if caring for one another was a bad thing - open up your bibles you bandy about.

The facts prove that more equitable societies are more peaceful and productive. Whatever you call yourselves whether its jihad or communist, capitalist, liberal, socialist or conservative the name doesn't matter its all a struggle for power the haves versus the have nots.

The haves would be wise not to see how much they can steal from the public largess, public lands and public treasure and resources but to make damn sure that everyone who wants to can take care of themselves, their families and each other.

The conservative mouthpieces want to frame the debate as those who want to work versus the lazies who want hand outs. This is a pure fantasy. In fact the richest 1% and their children are the laziest who live off of trust funds and the fat of the land. How does a CEO make millions by squeezing his employees salary down and raising the price of his product as high as he can. It's called economy of scales. Because there are so many of us buy his product a slight increase results in billions of more dollars and one person reaps the most benefit the CEO at the top without breaking a sweat. For profit health care wouldn't be so lucrative if there weren't so many of us buying their product, same with oil. In other words CEO's are living off the fat of the land.

So who's lazy the poor? They don't have access to a solid education, an inheritance, connections or a good job and work their asses off working two or three minimum wage jobs just to send their kids to better schools and keep a roof over their head.

The handouts go to those rich enough and powerful enough to change the laws in their favor. And they try to do it relentlessly 24/7. The poor do not get a free ride. The rich get a free ride. Exxon mobile receives welfare in the form of tax dollar subsidies. Our government hands them our money and they don't need it. They want it and to monopolize and control and consolidate the energy industry around their one company but they don't need it. And so those who don't need it get tax breaks and the poor and needy, the sick and disabled get kicked to the curb or thrown into jail squeezed tighter and tighter. That's a dangerous game.

The conservative political philosophy was promulgated as a justification for screwing the weak. It was and is an excuse to rake in as much as they can of the nations treasure for themselves and then to move it out of the country and hide it on foreign soil. Those are your flag pin lapel wearing, bible thumping patriots.

There is a balance that needs to be achieved and only liberals, moderates, progressives, and the true evangelicals care about the welfare of the whole entire world, the stewardship of gods creation, civilization, society and each other. Its the only way we are all going to make it together all on the same team.

Divide and conquer give it any name you want will leave the conquers with their heads cut off because the hoarders of wealth and power who take all that money out of the market are vastly outnumbered.

It doesn't matter what they call it socialism, communism, terrorism, capitalism its all the same thing when done wrong. It's a consolidation of power and wealth by the few dressed up in whatever garment they think will get them elected, fatigues, robes, suits or flags. What they all eventually learn and usually the hard way is that its best not to decimate and squeeze down on the middle class too hard. Libya was not a war against terrorism it was a war against the insanely rich who put their thumb in the eye of everyone else, and horded their national treasure.

It is the survival of the planet that needs to come first if any of us are going to survive and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Or we can rip it all down, over fish it, over populate it, over pollute it, give ourselves cancer, fight to the death about it and annihilate ourselves in a petty king of the hill game. Try and eat the dollar bills and gold bars to survive surrounded by toxic waste, mercury, pesticide laden and processed food, and nuclear fallout.

In my opinion those calling themselves conservatives are presently the short sighted and mean spirited ones grubbing for power, grabbing at our national economy, cornering the market for themselves and crippling the economy, corrupting our democracy. Seventy years ago the were called socialist and communist now they are terrorist and conservatives all after the same thing - power, wealth and even fame. In the face of global survival and civilized societies who need to cooperate with each other they act as spoiled children unaware of their surroundings and predicaments.

The invisible hand of the free market is called absentee management at best, lawlessness at worst and its another fairy tale, label and logo to hide despicable behavior behind. In theory and in practice it doesn't work because it is a relinquishing of responsibility, and its lazy. The only people pushing for it are crooks and criminals, thugs and tyrants who don't want to be held accountable for their actions. Call it whatever you want the song remains the same.

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.

Seneca

Silent gratitude isn’t very much to anyone.

Gertrude Stein

My goal in life is to be a person as good as my dog already thinks I am.

~ Unknown

Building Storehouses for the Sun’s Energy, for Use After Dark - NYTimes.com http://ping.fm/ae6jF

The moon is one, but on agitated water it produces many reflections. Similarly ultimate reality is one, yet it appears to be many in a mind agitated by thoughts.

Maharamayana

‘Zero-Energy’ Construction Crosses the Ocean - NYTimes.com http://ping.fm/yuPQv

The excess of the past generation is going to look starkly foolhardy to even the most ardent self denialist and richest 1% - Paul Burke

Who Are The Young Farmers Of 'Generation Organic'? : The Salt : NPR http://ping.fm/UiLwK

Wind Turbines May Help Crops on Farms, Research Says http://ping.fm/TE37c

A farm lives high – and clean – off the hog - latimes.com http://ping.fm/aMjgm

Solar panel installation on Hillsboro building is step toward greening of Washington County | OregonLive.com http://ping.fm/nbWHK

Share on Myspace http://ping.fm/3LbJF

World pays Ecuador not to extract oil from rainforest | Environment | The Guardian http://ping.fm/QnFpN